1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid seasoning.
2. Background of the Invention
Nowadays, interest in physiological functions of various components contained in food products is increasing. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan routinely grants permission for food products containing components associated with such physiological functions or biological activities as Food for Specified Health Use (FOSHU). Such food products have been commercialized in the form of a beverage, yogurt, soup, miso soup, a prepared food product such as hamburger steak, a tablet-form confectionery, a tablet or the like. It has been recommended that these food products be ingested once or twice a day.
Various materials have been proposed as materials having physiologically active functions. An example is a food material having an antihypertensive effect. Among others, peptide, γ-aminobutyric acid, chlorogenic acid, or the like are present as substances that are contained in food products and are highly safe. Thus, techniques of increasing the contents of such substances in food products or adding such substances to food products have been proposed (JP-A-2004-147560, JP-A-2003-169659, JP-A-2001-352940, JP-A-07-227245).
Based on the view that common salts have adverse effects on renal diseases, cardiac diseases, and hypertension, it has been proposed to add a food material having an antihypertensive effect to food products containing a high content of common salts. There have been a large number of techniques regarding the combined use of such a food material having an antihypertensive effect with soy sauce as a representative example of the aforementioned food products (JP-A-2004-290129, JP-A-2004-187501, JP-A-2002-360289, JP-A-2002-300862, JP-A-2004-194515). In order to ingest an effective amount of such food material, it is necessary to ingest a large amount of the food product. However, such ingestion amounts to ingestion of large quantities of salts. This leads to an unfavorable consequence because the ingesting effect of said food material is decreased. Furthermore, the addition of a large amount of the aforementioned food material may affect the flavor of the food product.